Finding the leak!

[jimf15e]

I'm trying to isolate a leak in my setup. Currently I have a dual body, regulator with high pressure gauge. This is connected to 3 kegs, 1 body to 1 keg, 1 body to 2 kegs via a wye spitter. The other night I came home to an empty system, about 10 days after making the mods from a 2 tap to 3 with the splitter, new hoses, and other fittings (ie major surgery). It had sat 5 ish days since I last pulled a beer and the co2 was pretty close to empty.

I previously noticed one loose gas in fitting, if moved incorrectly it would hiss. However, before checking that with spray starsanI thought I'd test the regulator. If I close all shutoff valves to the kegs, then turn on the gas and set the low pressure regs to serving pressure, the high pressure (when cold) reads normal.

Here's my test question - if I then turn off the gas at the tank valve, is it true that the high pressure gauge shoud stay above zero indefinitely? Or will it eventually bleed to zero if there's no gas on? Does that make sense? I'm trying to isolate the leak in either the lines or the regulator first. My thinking is that with everything shut off and temp constant all three gauges should stay static if all is well, even with the gas off.

Any help is appreciated.

James

 

[beaksnbeer]

Depends on the regs. My Primary Tap-Rite will drop on the high side if the gas is turned off, if left on it's fine. I checked many times and there is still pressure in there but it is being absorbed into the beer and the high side is not sensitive enough to read the lower pressure.

To check static pressure you will need to disconnect the gas to the kegs, so that no gas is actually being used.

 

[IslandLizard]

I would start at the top and narrow down to each keg connector.

Make sure ALL threaded fittings are teflon taped and well sealed. One loose fitting could mean there are more...
I would probably redo all of them, just in case. One or two turns of (thin) teflon tape is usually NOT enough. There is some inferior (thick) tape out there too.

Do you have clamps on all your barbed hoses?
Are the o-rings on your keg posts good and lubed?
Are the kegs leaking anywhere?

You can stick pretty much anything under water or spray with Starsan, except the dials.

 

[jimf15e]

First, good to know that if my reg high side pressure drops it's not abnormal. My only concern is it does this even with all gas line shutoff valves closed, ie the only pressure should be inside the regulator itself. Is that still normal with a Taprite reg?

I'll redo my connections again today with plenty of Teflon. My biggest concern right now is that it's a leak at the outputs of the regulators. Last night I pressurized the system, turned off the gas, then closed the keg shutoff valves. This morning all three dials (both low pressure dials and the high pressure dials) had dropped to zero with no temperature changes. This tells me the leak is somewhere at the regulator connections, right?

My kegs have been holding pressure well, but I'll need to redo the lube at the connectors. I use clamps on all fittings, with MFL connectors using nylon washers at all connection points.

 

[beaksnbeer]

I have no clamps on my system I went to John Guest fittings. So leaks come down to the Regulators and their npt fittings

 

[R2D2]

Spray StarSan on every possible connection and look for bubbles.
I had a cracked fitting that I could not find forever. Finally I found it.
If I disconnect everything pressure will gradually bleed out (over the course of 24 hours) of the primary gauge.
But the regulator gauge should never drop.

 

[IslandLizard]

Make sure there is a good sealing washer between the tank and the regulator manifold. The nylon ones last a long time, but the fiber ones don't. Regardless, they all need to be replaced regularly.

A hairline fracture in a fitting is hard to spot with the eye. Again, spray soapy water around every area and watch for bubbles. Soap is a bit less corrosive than Starsan.

 

[jimf15e]

Found it! Well, found them! Some loose fittings in the wye splitter and one of the hose barbs, starsan of course did the trick. I was glad I was able to narrow it down by turning off the air and closing the outlet valves. Didn't make sense that after doing so the high pressure gauge would drop unless a) faulty regulator or b) leak at the output of the regulator. Glad it was b) on both my regulators (I tried a spare and it didn't hold pressure either). Now we'll see if I found them all - I sprayed starsan everywhere like recommended, hopefully by the end of the week I won't be out another 5# bottle! Thanks for all the help guys.

James

 

[IslandLizard]

<Applause!>

 

[R2D2]

Yea!